Happy birthday Crown Princess Mette-Marit: 10 facts about the royal

The Norwegian royal is expected to mark the day surrounded by family including her husband Crown Prince Haakon and their three children.

Princess Mette-Marit of Norway celebrates her 41st birthday

To honour Mette-Marit”s birthday, ! Online has gathered a list of ten facts about the princess.

1. Mette-Marit was born on 19 August 1973 in Kristiansand, Norway, to parents Sven O. Hoiby and Marit Tjessem.

2. During her younger years, the future royal enjoyed playing sports at school including volleyball, which became her favourite. Mette-Marit soon excelled in the sport becoming a referee and coach.

Prince Haakon and Mette-Marit have been married for 13 years

3. Following in the footsteps of Queen Rania of Jordan and Crown Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece, the princess is an avid user of Twitter. The future queen describes herself in her Twitter bio as a “proud mother-of-three and dedicated bookworm” and has racked up nearly 100,000 followers.

4. In August 2001, Mette-Marit married Crown Prince Haakon in a stunning ceremony in Oslo, surrounded by royals from around the world including Britain”s Earl and Countess of Wessex. Mette-Marit”s son Marius from a previous relationship served as page-boy and appeared with the couple on the balcony of the royal palace as the day reached its big finale.

The royal couple on their wedding day

5. Three years after their wedding, the couple welcomed their first child Princess Ingrid Alexandra in January 2004, who was followed by Prince Sverre Magnus in December 2005.

6. The Norwegian royal shares her big day with former American president Bill Clinton and Friends star Matthew Perry.

7. In 2008, Mette-Marit began studying part-time at BI Norwegian School of Management in Oslo, where she completed her Master of Management in 2012.

The couple posing with their children, Ingrid Alexandra, Sverre Magnus and Mette-Marit”s son from another relationship, Marius

8. Despite her fear of flying, the princess has travelled the world with her husband Haakon, and has made official visits to India, United Kingdom and the United States.

9. Mette-Marit is a royal godmother to Prince Odysseas-Kimon of Greece and Denmark and Prince Christian of Denmark.

10. The Norwegian royals are close to the British royal family and in October 2005, Mette-Marit joined her husband and parents-in-law, King Harald and Queen Sonja, on an official royal tour to the United Kingdom.